The Gulf – Awesome Sand and Water!!!

                                                                  

            The Gulf is everything we had been dreaming of for the last 6 months getting here.  The water is fabulous- very clear and blue green.  They don’t call it the “Emerald Coast “ for nothing.  The sand is very fine, pure white, looks like sugar and actually squeaks when you walk on it.

                                                                   

The water is only 62 degrees, It’s colder than usual due to the cold winter they had here (one of the coldest in history). There are some jellyfish here, kind of surprising since the water isn’t that warm.  We are told the water should warm up quick now. We noticed that a lot of the palm trees are brown with frost damage.  

                                                         

            Crossing Mobile Bay was tricky.  Much of the bay is only 2-3 feet deep and the sand is constantly shifting.  The Mobile shipping channel was narrow and marked by buoys, but sometimes hard to follow.   There was a lot of shipping traffic in the channel to watch out for.   Mobile Bay is huge, about 40 miles long by 20 miles wide. Our new AIS system worked great. With the AIS the tugs/ tows knew we were there and Bill was able to know exactly where they were and talk to them.  We should have had it a long time ago.                                                       

lighthouse in the middle of Mobile Bay

            Our first marina after crossing the bay was Homeport, owned by Jimmy Buffet’s sister. It was very popular and touristy – kind of a Carribean  Disneyland type place on the sand.  There were bands, restaurants, volleyball, physical challenge equipment, gift shops, etc.                                                   

                                                                    

                           huge challenge climbing apparatus at Lucy Buffet's